Counterbalance weight on antenna rotator?
Do a lot of you, or all, use a counterbalance weight on your elevation rotor? If so, how did you implement it?
I have 3 antennas (2M, 70cm, 23cm) on my cross boom and want to reduce the load on the Yaesu rotor so it lasts longer.
73s,
Bob W7OTJ
Bob, Are you talking Front to Back (EL) or Side to Side ?
When I had clearance issues I had to mount my 2m yagi forward of its natural balance point. I hose clamped a steel bar on top and parallel to the boom to rebalance the load of the yagi on the rotor. It worked fine. I also used tape protected tie-wraps as a secondary safety net, so the iron bar didn't fall on someone's head!
I did not have any side to side balance issues across the rotor. (The 70cm on one side and the 2m on the other, but if I would have, I would have used the same trick: Steel bar on the lighter side of the boom, to balance the load across the rotor.)
Cheap, easy, dirty. But be sure to make that steel bar counterweight mount to the antenna boom or cross-boom VERY secure.
73, N0AN
Hasan
On Fri, Oct 4, 2019 at 9:58 AM Bob Hammond via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Do a lot of you, or all, use a counterbalance weight on your elevation rotor? If so, how did you implement it?
I have 3 antennas (2M, 70cm, 23cm) on my cross boom and want to reduce the load on the Yaesu rotor so it lasts longer.
73s,
Bob W7OTJ _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Hasan, front to back on the EL so as to reduce the load on the motor and gears.
thanks,
Bob
On Fri, Oct 4, 2019 at 8:16 AM Hasan al-Basri hbasri.schiers6@gmail.com wrote:
Bob, Are you talking Front to Back (EL) or Side to Side ?
When I had clearance issues I had to mount my 2m yagi forward of its natural balance point. I hose clamped a steel bar on top and parallel to the boom to rebalance the load of the yagi on the rotor. It worked fine. I also used tape protected tie-wraps as a secondary safety net, so the iron bar didn't fall on someone's head!
I did not have any side to side balance issues across the rotor. (The 70cm on one side and the 2m on the other, but if I would have, I would have used the same trick: Steel bar on the lighter side of the boom, to balance the load across the rotor.)
Cheap, easy, dirty. But be sure to make that steel bar counterweight mount to the antenna boom or cross-boom VERY secure.
73, N0AN
Hasan
On Fri, Oct 4, 2019 at 9:58 AM Bob Hammond via AMSAT-BB < amsat-bb@amsat.org> wrote:
Do a lot of you, or all, use a counterbalance weight on your elevation rotor? If so, how did you implement it?
I have 3 antennas (2M, 70cm, 23cm) on my cross boom and want to reduce the load on the Yaesu rotor so it lasts longer.
73s,
Bob W7OTJ _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
I use a square wooden dowel on the back end of my Arrow that I clip my RX radio on to act as a counter balance.
On Fri, Oct 4, 2019, 18:44 Bob Hammond via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Hasan, front to back on the EL so as to reduce the load on the motor and gears.
thanks,
Bob
On Fri, Oct 4, 2019 at 8:16 AM Hasan al-Basri hbasri.schiers6@gmail.com wrote:
Bob, Are you talking Front to Back (EL) or Side to Side ?
When I had clearance issues I had to mount my 2m yagi forward of its natural balance point. I hose clamped a steel bar on top and parallel to the boom to rebalance the load of the yagi on the rotor. It worked fine.
I
also used tape protected tie-wraps as a secondary safety net, so the iron bar didn't fall on someone's head!
I did not have any side to side balance issues across the rotor. (The
70cm
on one side and the 2m on the other, but if I would have, I would have
used
the same trick: Steel bar on the lighter side of the boom, to balance the load across the rotor.)
Cheap, easy, dirty. But be sure to make that steel bar counterweight
mount
to the antenna boom or cross-boom VERY secure.
73, N0AN
Hasan
On Fri, Oct 4, 2019 at 9:58 AM Bob Hammond via AMSAT-BB < amsat-bb@amsat.org> wrote:
Do a lot of you, or all, use a counterbalance weight on your elevation rotor? If so, how did you implement it?
I have 3 antennas (2M, 70cm, 23cm) on my cross boom and want to reduce
the
load on the Yaesu rotor so it lasts longer.
73s,
Bob W7OTJ _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
In my case, the light weight beam was mounted to a tripod at the rear-most end so that the 2m reflector would not foul with the tripod legs. The counter balance required was not much (less than 4 pounds), so I used some fishing lead weight, see link below. It comes in a coil that conveniently wraps around the end of the boom. A length of magic tape secured it to the boom. PS: The arrangement worked fine but I wasn't happy that the weight of the whole thing was now twice the weight of the antenna. Link fyi: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bullet-Weights-Lead-Wire/52497626 73! Umesh k6vug On Friday, October 4, 2019, 4:02:49 PM PDT, Don KB2YSI via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote: I use a square wooden dowel on the back end of my Arrow that I clip my RX radio on to act as a counter balance.
On Fri, Oct 4, 2019, 18:44 Bob Hammond via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Hasan, front to back on the EL so as to reduce the load on the motor and gears.
thanks,
Bob
On Fri, Oct 4, 2019 at 8:16 AM Hasan al-Basri hbasri.schiers6@gmail.com wrote:
Bob, Are you talking Front to Back (EL) or Side to Side ?
When I had clearance issues I had to mount my 2m yagi forward of its natural balance point. I hose clamped a steel bar on top and parallel to the boom to rebalance the load of the yagi on the rotor. It worked fine.
I
also used tape protected tie-wraps as a secondary safety net, so the iron bar didn't fall on someone's head!
I did not have any side to side balance issues across the rotor. (The
70cm
on one side and the 2m on the other, but if I would have, I would have
used
the same trick: Steel bar on the lighter side of the boom, to balance the load across the rotor.)
Cheap, easy, dirty. But be sure to make that steel bar counterweight
mount
to the antenna boom or cross-boom VERY secure.
73, N0AN
Hasan
On Fri, Oct 4, 2019 at 9:58 AM Bob Hammond via AMSAT-BB < amsat-bb@amsat.org> wrote:
Do a lot of you, or all, use a counterbalance weight on your elevation rotor? If so, how did you implement it?
I have 3 antennas (2M, 70cm, 23cm) on my cross boom and want to reduce
the
load on the Yaesu rotor so it lasts longer.
73s,
Bob W7OTJ_______________________________________________Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Hi Bob!
I don't have any additional weight as a specific counterbalance, but I did mount my two X-Quads at their balance points.
So, while I was only as scientific as the "balance the antenna on your finger until it doesn't dip in either direction" method to find the center point, I feel like I am putting minimal stress on the elevation rotor.
Since my S-Band Wimo helical could not be mounted at just any point along its length, I did add a few inches of PVC to the bottom of the boom. Epoxied inside the PVC are a few fishing weights to cause the obvious mounting point on that antenna to also be the balance point.
-Scott, K4KDR
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-----Original Message----- From: Bob Hammond via AMSAT-BB Sent: Friday, October 04, 2019 10:56 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Counterbalance weight on antenna rotator?
Do a lot of you, or all, use a counterbalance weight on your elevation rotor? If so, how did you implement it?
I have 3 antennas (2M, 70cm, 23cm) on my cross boom and want to reduce the load on the Yaesu rotor so it lasts longer.
73s,
Bob W7OTJ
I use 1 inch perforated square tube (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Steelworks-L-x-1-in-W-x-1-in-H-Plated-Steel-Perfora...). On the crossboom, I use a mast adapter bracket with holes drilled to mate to the perforated square tube and U-bolts with a saddle clamp to mate the bracket to the crossboom. On the other end I use a Walmart Barbell handle chopped in half with an angle grinder (https://www.walmart.com/ip/CAP-Barbell-Standard-14-Dumbbell-Handle-w-Collars...). The non-threaded sided is welded to the other end of the perforated steel tube and is horizontally aligned with the threaded end facing away from the tower (to avoid hitting anything when pointed at zenith). I then use their standard barbell weights to get the right counter-balance (https://www.walmart.com/ip/CAP-Barbell-Black-Olympic-Grip-Plate-Single-2-5-4...), held in place by the threaded collar of the barbell handle. The weights are about 2.5-3ft 'behind' the rotator, so mileage may vary for the amount of weight needed for the counterbalance. I use two of these, one on either side of the crossboom. Spray painted everything (including the weights) with an appropriate paint to avoid rust over time.
Using the u-bolts on the crossboom for this setup is a double-edge sword. The pro is you can slide them left/right to get balance for azimuth, and then adjust the amount of weight for the elevation balance. The con is that if the U-bolts aren't a solid mechanical connection with lots of surface area contact, and if the rotator is jittery at all, the brackets can slip sometimes....not really an issue if the saddle clamp and u-bolt are sized right for the crossboom and have lots of surface area contact. You could also pin the bracket to the rotator if you wanted to avoid this, but then it's a bit less modular and you'd have to pay attention to hole alignment, drill the crossboom, etc.
Overall, pretty cheap solution that works at VT on a few different antenna setups......but it does require the use of an angle grinder and welder the way we did it.
-Zach, KJ4QLP
I forgot to add that all my antennas are end-mount with the 2M antenna on one side of the EL rotor and the 23cm and 70cm antennas on the other side.
On Fri, Oct 4, 2019 at 7:56 AM Bob Hammond propgrinder@gmail.com wrote:
Do a lot of you, or all, use a counterbalance weight on your elevation rotor? If so, how did you implement it?
I have 3 antennas (2M, 70cm, 23cm) on my cross boom and want to reduce the load on the Yaesu rotor so it lasts longer.
73s,
Bob W7OTJ
What do all think of this idea? Pictured is a trial weight (20 lbs). I envision using stainless steel cable instead of the nylon rope for security and safety. As the antenna crossboom is rotated, the rope unwinds.
Bob W7OTJ
On Fri, Oct 4, 2019 at 7:56 AM Bob Hammond propgrinder@gmail.com wrote:
Do a lot of you, or all, use a counterbalance weight on your elevation rotor? If so, how did you implement it?
I have 3 antennas (2M, 70cm, 23cm) on my cross boom and want to reduce the load on the Yaesu rotor so it lasts longer.
73s,
Bob W7OTJ
participants (6)
-
Bob Hammond -
Don KB2YSI -
Hasan al-Basri -
k6vug＠sbcglobal.net -
Leffke, Zachary -
Scott